The success of cellular telephones and wireless local area networks (WLANs) has facilitated the development of dual-mode mobile devices that make use of both technologies. A dual-mode mobile device, sometimes referred to as a dual-mode mobile station, allows a user to take advantage of residential gateways and access points to check e-mail, surf the Internet, access enterprise networks, and place telephone calls. Thus, WLANs permit dual-mode mobile device users to bypass the traditional cellular network by using the Internet to route telephone calls instead. These dual-mode mobile devices are configured to operate over the WLAN when the phone is within the service area of the wireless access point, and to operate over the cellular network when out of range, such as when the mobile device has been carried out of the building housing the WLAN.
In many typical implementations, the wired broadband access utilized by the WLAN is provided by a broadband service provider, while the wireless cellular access is provided by a wireless service provider unrelated to the broadband service provider. Various service nodes may be located behind a firewall of the local-area network (LAN) for the WLAN location. For security purposes, this firewall may be configured to reject unsolicited connections initiated over a wide-area network (WAN) to the service node within the LAN.
In some situations, the wireless service provider located outside the LAN may wish to access the service node behind the firewall. This may be desired in order to configure the service node for improved communication with the dual-mode mobile device, for example. However, the firewall may prevent the wireless service provider from connecting to the service node to initiate the desired management session.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a system for enabling management of the service node without compromising the security provided by the LAN firewall.